Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Warlord Wednesday: The Secret of Skyra III

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"The Secret of Skyra III"

Warlord #110 (October 1986)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Pencils by Ron Randall; Inks by Duncan Andrews

Synopsis: Morgan and Shakira are cutting through the jungle, still on their quest to find the mysterious wizard who can save Jennifer from her aging malady. They hear a scream and rush to the rescue of a young woman in perhaps the most ridiculous outfit in the whole Warlord series (and that’s saying something) being attacked by “crocodile men.”

Though one of them almost drowns him, Morgan prevails. The girl gushes all over her hero to Shakira’s amusement.

She's named Asmara. Her people live in a floating city. Her father is gravely ill and she was sent to get ingredients for medication for him. Unfortunately, her flight belt failed and:

She asks Morgan and Shakira to help her get the ingredients and offers them flight belts in return.

Meanwhile, a ship pulls Mariah and Machiste from the sea. The sailors are surprised to see Machiste alive, as all of Kiro had been told he was dead. KIng N’Dosma has taken the throne, and has been robbing the city blind. The two have the sailor’s drop them off at a large grating that leads to the ancient network of sewage tunnels beneath the palace. Mariah wonders why the tunnel isn't guarded--until they are suddenly surrounded by guards!

Back with Morgan and Shakira, Asmara has then really working for the flight belts. One ingredient is red lichen that only grows in a high mountain caved, guarded by a bear! The next is a giant poppy out in the middle of a field---protected by a giant insect!

Just as soon as Morgan’s killed that creature, a flock of pteranodons swoop down toward them! It turns out these are beasts tamed by Asmara’s people sent to give them a ride back to the city. This starts to seem familiar to Morgan. It reminds him of a place he visited called “Skyra.”

A smiling man welcomes them to Skyra III (it turns out four or five were originally built). He asks Asmara if she has all the items required of her.

The man congratulates his daughter on being the winner of this month’s scavenger hunt!

Morgan and Shakira are angry at having been used in a game. Morgan demands the promised flight belts so they can leave. The man says they can’t leave: they might tell surface folk about what happened and ruin the next hunt. Then he sicks the robots on them:

Morgan shoots there way out. They make a quick stop and disable the city’s antigravity generators before escaping. Morgan gives them one last bit of advice, as they seem to be going down in crocodile-men country:

Things to Notice:

A sailor swears by "Grel's Demons"--an obvious reference to the Warlord's creator.

Morgan refers to his visit to Skyra as "years ago." This is likely a signal of DC's police of dropping Skartaris's "timelessness" around this time.

Where it Comes From:
This issue is explicitly inspired by the first Skyra in issue #8.

3 comments:

I always try to guess the age of comics with how the artists draw women's hair. This is easiest with "guest stars", after all Jennifer Morgan's hair won't really ever change. I have to admit I guessed this one correctly. But I also had a good idea when this was from reading each week.